“The story of Ewen and David is tragic, but it’s also profoundly inspiring. It’s not just a moment in history, it’s a legacy of values.” ~ Emma Manix-Geeves
writer and photographer ROB SHAW
The emotion in Bernard Hay’s voice was impossible to miss as he recalled the last time he saw his best friend, David Kilvert.“One of the teachers sent three of us on ahead,” he said. “I looked around to David and said, ‘Are you coming, mate?’ and he said, ‘Ah, no I think I’ll stay.’ And that’s the last I saw of him.”
Tasmania has produced far more than its share of wilderness tragedies, but the story of David Kilvert and Ewen Scott has left an enduring legacy. And in May 2025, six decades after those two souls were claimed by our unforgiving weather, their memory was kept alive by a hall full of people, the vast majority born well after they perished.
The commemorative assembly at Riverside High School was held 60 years after 13-year-old student David Kilvert and 26-year-old teacher Ewen Scott died on a school expedition to Cradle Mountain. Present were not only members of both families but half of the 16 students who took part in the ill-fated, five-day trek.
“Seeing all these faces again has really brought back those memories,” said Bernard Hay, now 74, with two sons and six grandsons. “It really brought back a few emotions and a few things I’d put into the back of my mind. David and I were best mates and to lose him was pretty sad.
“We weren’t allowed to talk about it at the time so I think that caused bottled up emotions. This is probably the first time that we’ve all got together and spoken about it really and it is good to talk about it. It’s been a good day.”
After decades of the subject being avoided, it is widely commemorated and even embraced by the school in Launceston’s northern suburbs. At the well-attended assembly, today’s students sat in silence as the heartbreaking story was retold. Dry eyes were hard to find.
Established just three years earlier, Riverside High was still in its infancy on May 16, 1965, when 16 students set out from Arm River to walk the northern half of the Overland Track under the guidance of teachers John Chick, Rosemary Bayes and Ewen Scott. Caught in a fierce blizzard on their last day from Waterfall Valley to Waldheim, the group began to splinter. Faced with freezing winds and deep snow, exhaustion and hypothermia began to take hold. With nightfall approaching, Hay and two other students were sent ahead to raise the alarm. Thwarted by a rising creek, they hunkered down. Other groups sought shelter in the Dove Lake boat shed and on Hansons Peak.
As young Dave Kilvert struggled in the appalling conditions, Ewen Scott remained with him. The last time they were seen, the teacher was carrying his student. Their bodies were found the following day.
Hay and fellow students Helene Stephens and Rod Howell relived their experience in an emotional video shown at the assembly. “The blizzard was very strong,” said Helene Stephens, who was also 13 at the time. “I remember climbing through snowdrifts up to the tops of my thighs. That really slowed us down and we ran out of daylight.
“There were some stronger walkers, and it was decided that they go on ahead to raise the alarm and another group was to go to the boatshed. I was in a group of three girls and one boy and Mr Chick. We pulled off the side of the track on the top of Hansons Peak in the cold and the wet and the wind and rain with no tents. We had a couple of ground sheets and tried to stay awake overnight. It was quite raw to us and we knew there was a chance that we wouldn’t pull through.”
Rod Howell was among the group in the boatshed. “There was probably room for a dozen of us to lean against the interior wall of the boatshed and have our feet out,” he said. “The toes were cold, the ankles were cold but I guess the body warmth of people together probably helped and certainly the encouragement and calmness that the teacher exhibited helped a lot. I think she had us singing songs.”
Bernard Hay recalled reaching the creek at the northern end of Dove Lake. “It was getting dark, freezing cold, raining, snowing – and we didn’t really have a clue where to cross,” he said. “The water was raging with melted snow. We tried to get over but it was over waist deep.
“By this time it was pitch black, we were all very tired and I said, ‘I don’t know about you guys but we can
’t make it. Hopefully the others have found shelter. I’m going to go under those bushes with a sleeping bag and try and warm up. Hopefully the moon will come out and we can get home’.”
The three separate groups survived the freezing night before learning the terrible news the following day.
Helene Stephens said she was carried out to Waldheim from where she was conveyed to Latrobe Hospital. “I was lying in hospital listening to the hospital radio waiting for my mum and dad to come and I found out over the news that Ewen Scott and David Kilvert had passed away. It was devastating.”
Bernard Hay’s discovery was just as confronting.
“I remember a big burly copper charged in and he said, ‘Who was the little fella in the red parka?’ and my heart sank. I said, ‘That was David Kilvert.’ He said, ‘Oh,’ and just walked back out. I said, ‘Is he alright?’ and he didn’t answer. It wasn’t until I got off the bus and my parents were there – I just looked across at mum and dad and said, ‘What’s happened to David?’ and they said, ‘He’s dead’.”
The tragedy was to have lasting effects, many still being felt today. The surviving students and staff received no counselling. Many were interviewed by police and simply returned to school. “I wondered what impact it would have on the whole school and those families affected and gradually I realised it had such an impact on me,” said a tearful Howell who went on to become assistant principal at Riverside from 1992-97.
Determined to ensure that no future hikers should suffer the same fate, Riverside High School and Launceston Walking Club rallied together to construct the Scott-Kilvert Memorial Hut at Lake Rodway. It was completed within 10 months of the tragedy and has since become a welcome and cherished haven for Tasmanian hikers.
Riverside High also instigated the Scott-Kilvert Award to recognise students who demonstrate the qualities of selflessness, mateship, courage and loyalty.
Presented every year since 1966, its recipients have achieved success across many fields including cancer researcher and current Australian of the Year Richard Scolyer, ABC political journalist Monte Bovill and numerous sports performers such as basketballers Kai Woodfall and Lachlan Brewer, soccer player Meg Connolly and cricketer Emma Manix-Geeves, who told the assembly what the honour meant to her.
Acknowledging that, at 24, she is now close to the same age as Ewen Scott, she said, “I was struck by their bravery and the devastating loss that still echoes through this community 60 years later. The story of Ewen and David is tragic, but it’s also profoundly inspiring. It’s not just a moment in history, it’s a legacy of values.”
